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Saturday, December 24, 2016

Christmas Eve is upon us and we still haven't made our Christmas cookies- but as the kids pointed out we need something to leave for Santa and Rudolf under the tree tonight SO, among the many things we need to do today we decided to make Christmas cookies for Santa tonight (thanks to grandma for supervising!) This year, however, we are experimenting with a new, healthier, recipe that has amazing reviews online. It is gluten free, dairy-free and no refined sugar... and with only 7 ingredients they are easy and quick to make! If you are feeling adventurous here is the recipe! Thanks to Elanaspantry for the recipe!

Sunday, December 18, 2016

Little kids not only are capable of licking all surfaces in the house, but they are always going to lay one, touch and breathe in the ingredients in your home cleaners - so, what is in yours?

The boys and I are taking a moment this Sunday to organize and breathes clean out their playroom to make roomfor some new additions which are sure to arrive in a week ( hopefully they are on Santa's nice list 😜) and choose toys that we can pass on to other children in need before the holiday.

How important are the products we use to clean the playroom and the rest of the house? Well, consider that your family will touch, breathe & absorb the ingredients in your cleaning products for days after you cleaned. Continual exposure to hundreds of cleaners, even some of those labelled as "green" or "natural," can and do have serious health effects, especially on children. Not to mention my kids who actually like to "help" clean the house and regularly spray the windows and tables with out cleaning spray.

Tuesday, December 13, 2016

A new study by the Ecology Center was released today about the state of flame retardants in our children’s car seats.

What's NEW

In this new study, the Ecology Center tested 15 car seats (both infant and toddler). This time, they included two from the United Kingdom (I would imagine because laws in Europe are quite different to the laws in the US), by the following manufacturers: BabyTrend, Britax, Chicco, Clek, Cosco, Diono, Evenflo, Graco, Joie, Maxi-Cosi, Nuna, Orbit, Recaro, and Safety 1st; and a 2017-model car seat from UPPAbaby.

Wednesday, December 7, 2016

Cheap, plastic cups (you know the type - usually decorated with the most popular cartoon characters!) made overseas still often contain endocrine disrupting BPA. Even BPA free plastic is often made with a chemical that is very similar to BPA with massive endocrine disrupting properties. These cups can leech the chemicals into your children's drink- especially when the plastic is washed in the washing machine or when acidic drinks like OJ are served.

Melamine

Generally considered safer than plastic, melamina can sometimes leech a chemical associated with renal failure (at extremely high dosis) when heated (you can read more about the study that found this in our IS MELAMINE SAFE FOR MY KIDS post ).

In general, it is safer than plastic, just avoid using with hot liquids or very acidic liquids.

Tuesday, December 6, 2016

On a personal note, I wanted to share with my readers a side project I have been working on. I can now say I am finishing the year off extra grateful and proud; last week the amazing The Tot family welcomed me as one of their Experts. I will be regularly contributing to their community (and sharing my contributions with you guys here too!).

The Tot is a community with the mission of improving " the lives of tots, mamas and mamas-to-be by providing a one-stop-shop for unbiased information and advice coupled with healthy, safe and innovative products curated and tested by moms themselves." ...

Friday, December 2, 2016

*please head over to our updated post. Updated December 2017I love real Christmas trees. I love how they smell, how they look and I love the experience of going with my family to pick “the perfect tree”. It becomes the center of our holiday celebrations, the place where we take family photos every year, around which we host holiday cocktail parties (or, truth be told these days, afternoon playdates) and, of course, where Santa leaves his presents on Christmas morning.

This year, someone asked me if I thought that buying natural Christmas trees was damaging to the environment (cutting down so many trees) - a valid question. It also lead me to thinking about artificial Christmas trees and whether or not they were better for the environment. Here are my findings.